İnvestigating the relationship between career awareness and career decision-making competence in sports management students

This study aims to examine the relationship between career awareness and career decision-making self-efficacy among students enrolled in the sport management programs as well as to determine whether these constructs differ according to various demographic, academic, and environmental variables. Conducted within the framework of a quantitative research approach, the study employed both descriptive and correlational survey designs. The population of the research consisted of sport management students studying at faculties of sport sciences and schools of physical education and sports at different universities, while the sample comprised 468 sport management students (192 female, 276 male) enrolled in the 2024–2025 academic year. Data were collected using a demographic information form, the Career Awareness Scale, and the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale, and were analyzed using the SPSS 25 statistical package. After confirming that the data were normally distributed, independent samples t-test, one-way analysis of variance(ANOVA), and Pearson correlation analysis were performed.The results of the Pearson correlation analysis indicate that there are generally positive and statistically significant relationships between vocational career awareness and career decision-making competence. The strength of these relationships varies across sub-dimensions; the sub-dimensions of job–occupation knowledge, self-awareness, career preference, and career planning pathways within vocational career awareness demonstrate moderate correlations with most sub-dimensions of career decision-making competence, whereas the sub-dimension of following vocational issues exhibits low-level correlations. In addition, a positive, statistically significant, and high-level relationship was identified between the total scores of vocational career awareness and career decision-making competence.In addition, variables such as class level, academic achievement, reason for choosing the department, perceptions of career services offered by universities personality–department fit, possession of professionalcertificates, and work experience were found to createsignificant differences in these constructs. The results indicate that the career development processes of sport management students have a multidimensional structure. It is expected that the findings will provide evidence-basedcontributions to enhancing the quality of sport management education, improvingcareer services at universities, and supporting students' career planning processes.